Receiving invitations to sit on dates that are already booked with another sit

Does anybody else receive invitations to sit on dates that are already booked for another sit? Several times in the past few weeks we have been invited on dates that are booked for other sits on THS. Don’t owners see that we are already booked? We try to reply in a timely, courteous manner to every request through THS, but we feel bad for owners that are wasting their time when we are already committed on those dates. Perhaps just wishful thinking? We also would be happy to take some of these as back up sits in the event of a last minute cancellation so perhaps it isn’t a bad thing to get these requests.

ETA: I am wrong, owners can see future sits. Thanks for the correction, Snowbird!

(I don’t think home owners can see our upcoming sits. You can try blocking off the dates on the calendar but not all HOs look at that either so you may still get invites.)

I have added a paragraph at the start of our profile that tells our plans briefly so they may at least see that.

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@Kelownagurl Any member can see a sitter’s booked THS sits. I just went into your listing and saw yours. That aspect of the calendar is automatic. It’s the rest of a sitter’s calendar that’s dependant upon the sitter’s use, or not.

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Hello @Willingandable and welcome to the forum. My guess is that most homeowners approaching sitters directly are doing so because they feel they are close to their sit dates and have insufficient (or no) applicants. If so, they may be searching based on proximity to their location, and may also be inviting many sitters. For most sitters, and especially those with many reviews, you have to scroll quite a bit to reach the calendar. Perhaps homeowners are unaware of the calendar location, or just don’t realize to check it first, or how to find it. I think as long as you send a polite response, you’re doing all you can. :slightly_smiling_face:

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@meow I didn’t realize that, and hadn’t read of it on the forum either. I just checked my profile and see that you’re correct. I’m going to tag @Ben-ProductManager to make sure it’s being reported. Thanks for correcting me. :slightly_smiling_face: I’m tagging @Kelownagurl too, so that she’ll see the update.

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@Kelownagurl yes, it’s upcoming sits I can see. However, @meow has corrected me in that THS sits are not displaying on the app calendar. So I was right (website :slightly_smiling_face:) and wrong (app :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth:) at the same time! :roll_eyes:

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Yes all the time even after indicating in my description the dates and places I was free and open to.
I finally added this to my headline about two weeks ago and have only had one invite since.
I am a full time traveler.


I do respond to everyone and anyone that speaks to me. If there is possibility for another time I will say so. It does open things up.
These are good problems to have.

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So very true!

“Any member can see a sitter’s booked THS sits.” Are you sure? If that is/was the case we can/could save ourselves the effort to inform all unresponsive home owners about our unavailability, once we have accepted a sit for a proper (responding) advertiser for the same time.

Hello,
Can I just say, in response to the post about invitations when you’re already booked, many sitters don’t mark their calendar and it’s therefore impossible to know if they’re available or not. Very frustrating when you’re looking for a sitter!

Hello @Romana. My previous posts in this thread have addressed the current limitations of THS sits displaying, and that has been reported to staff. If you would like to test out seeing a sitter’s THS sits, you are welcome to use the link to my profile, embedded in my forum username (as I did with Kelownagurl to test it out). If you view my profile on the website (not the app), you should see that I have a sit booked next month. If that is not viewable, please direct message me. Thank you.

Hello Francine, you have a beautiful profile page! How does one become the winner of the THS Super Housesitter award? I just wanted to confirm that I can see your availability and your bookings calendar there - just as it should be. All good!

Hi @Romana and thank you for your kind words. You are not the first to ask about those awards, and I’ll add a link below to a thread about it, including Angela’s explanation.

Super sitter awards

We agree with this and would add that we can’t find any way to post unavailable dates on web or the mobile app. This would be a very useful feature, especially when we are booked for a personal reason outside of an actual THS sit.

Unfortunately, the app does not allow sitters to mark themselves unavailable, only dates you are available. This is a feature we should all request to be added in future!

I make manual adjustments to accurately reflect my availability on the calendar. Just looking at my profile on the app a few minutes ago, I see my calendar is completely white, with not even the dates for THS sits crossed out. It is showing up properly when I check my profile on my computer.

I don’t know if this is some sort of temporary glitch. If someone didn’t know what the calendar normally looks like, it would appear that all those dates are open ,hence the invitations. That ‘green’ indicates availability (if the sitter manually adds these dates) does not show up when looking at the calendar on the app as it does when looking on a computer.

Hi @KC1102 this issue came up in a post discussion yesterday and I tagged Ben so that he can look into it. I also asked that he update us on the forum, when he has more information. As you’ve mentioned, the calendar on the app isn’t working correctly. :worried:

Good to know! Thanks

To @meow , @Kelownagurl and everyone else, I’m happy to report that the calendar on the app appears to be functioning correctly again. :smiley: :clap:

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I read in a number of answers above that homeowners can see future sits on a calendar. I didn’t know that. That actually makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Anyone on this site can know when I will not be in my home. Is that right? That feels less than secure.